"Are you ever gonna let me save you?"
"I'm not your typical damsel, James."
Louise was a woman with many skills, baking, dancing, knife throwing, undercover ops, etc. Well, she learned the last two while her best friends fought in the second World...
Warnings: all translations are from google translate, so we'll see if they're correct. The italicized words in quotations are the translated version in English. Italicized paragraphs in a series are past scenes or dreams, just to specify in case.
- I hope you like it, it took me months to actually finish it and like it somewhat.
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Steve stood under the pavilion on the front of the Ebbets Field stadium, glancing through the growing crowd for his friends. Louise is the first to show, wearing a white buttoned shirt tucked into an a-line red floral skirt, her eyes catching his back as she approaches from behind him.
"Boo!" She shouts, shocking Steve and scaring a few men and women passing her.
"Really, Lou?" Steve asks, glancing up to her with a scoff and shook his head.
"What's wrong, Steven? You're usually laughing about my feeble attempts to scare you and Bucky." Louise points out, letting her smile fall slightly at Steve's frustrated demeanor.
"I got rejected again." Steve responds after a minute of their silence, the crowd bustling into the stadium for another Dodgers game.
"Steve, I know you want this, but you need to be careful. One day they're going to catch on, and then we'll not be able to do anything." She cautions, and Steve shakes his head.
"If you were brave enough or just able to tell him you're in love with him; and have been since you were children, would you try no matter the rejection? No matter the pain?" Steve retorts and Louise takes a step back, feeling defensive of his accusation, rather his meticulous knowledge of her feelings. Both keep quiet as they think over each other's words, not noticing Bucky standing across from them, just catching Steve's last words.
"You're in love with someone?" Bucky says, his tone meaning in a joking matter, covering his rising jealousy, envy. Louise glances to Bucky, freezing like a deer in headlights, peeking to Steve to help.
"I was just teasing Louise about a man who flirted with her before you arrived." Steve tumbles out, scratching the back of his head, taking Bucky's attention. Louise breathes out quietly, giving Steve a nod of approval before speaking.
"I was telling Steve he needs to be careful on choosing a seat. Telling him about being able to see and some crazy fan shouting next to us." Louise adds on to Steve's blatant lie, hoping Bucky at least believed her.
"Well, what are we waiting for then? I'm here, and now so is the fun. So let's get inside and enjoy the game." Bucky speaks up with a chuckle, wrapping his arm around Louise's shoulder and Steve's to lead them into the stadium. Bucky himself has a feeling of doubt to their words, but rejoicing somewhat in Louise's single status.
--
Louise stands in a small fresh market, her left hand holding a wooden basket slightly filled with some fruits and a few vegetables. Her right hand softly grabs a peony, already knowing what it was by the look.
"Here you go." A voice says behind her, her head turns to see Bucky standing in a brown army recruit suit with a matching hat over his short dark hair. She glances over it, her chest aching slightly as she turns to face him. Bucky dropped some change to pay for the flower, and he held his arm out for her to grab. She looped her basket with her left arm, holding the flower in it as she looped her right one with his left.
"I-" "My grandmother grew this exact flower in her garden for decades, saying it reminded her of a special flower she saw in France. She called them Rosa 'Princesse Louise'. Told my Father they were named after a princess she didn't even know about." Louise rambled, as Bucky led them through the market slowly, listening as he understood what she was doing. He slows to a stop, pulling her to face him.
"Is that how you got your name?" He plays along, giving her a look of knowing as she glanced down.
"Sort of. My mother's Italian so she wanted a strong name, as she knew somehow I would be strong before I was born. My father proposed the name, and she agreed after months of finally figuring out a little meaning behind the name. It supposedly means ''renowned warrior." She finishes, keeping her head down as she smelt the rose, his hand tilting her face up.
"It's fitting." He responds, pulling away as she stares at him.
"When are you leaving?" She asks after a minute of silence between them and the bustling crowd around them.
"First thing in the morning." He says quietly, her eyes closing at the thought.
"I'm with the 107th, Sergeant James Barnes, shipping out for England tomorrow." Louise glanced up to his eyes after a second, her glasses hiding the slight glossiness in her eyes. She gives him a nod and tries to leave, Bucky grabbing her arm softly to turn her back.
"You could alway write. You've always had good penmanship." Bucky tries, having a sick feeling towards her reaction.
"Why, you'll always have plenty of girls writing to you?" She jokes, trying to keep herself from being sad and letting him notice. He chuckles in relief, unknowingly breezing over her feelings.
"Well, will you come with me tonight before I leave?" He asks, holding out his other hand after letting her go.
"Where?" She chirps back, trying to stay positive.
"The World Exposition, the Future." Bucky speaks out, and she sighs, knowing the basic outcome of tonight.
"Of course, James." She responds, making him frown slightly as she moves to leave.
"I'll meet you there." She adds quickly, stepping away from him as many people tried to walk by. Bucky tries to follow, many people surrounding him as he sees Louise slither by, and disappear.
--
Louise softly applied a red lip colour with a small bush, finishing it smoothly and washed the brush quickly. She stood in a red cocktail tea dress, the red complimenting her skin tone. She softly laid her glasses on her face, checking her soft makeup she applied. She checked her small blacked heel shoes, and held her black clasp in her hand. She exited her room, and stepped down her stairs and into the bakery. Her mother glanced at her, smiling sadly as she knew what she had done earlier that afternoon.
"Sei bellissima, Luisa." (You are beautiful, Luisa.)
"Non so se dovrei andare, mamma." (I don't know if I should go, mom.) Louise spoke in italian, her nerves fluctuating as she mentally debated her feelings.
"Vai Luisa. Mi rifiuto di lasciarti qui, sguazzando, mentre l'uomo che ami sta lasciando. Vai, il mio fiore." (Go, Luisa. I refuse to let you stay here, wallowing, while the man you love is leaving. Go, my flower.) Her mother responds, making Louise calm slightly as she regains her confidence.
"I will, mamma." Louise smiles as she exits, waving down a cab to go to the Exposition. Her mother watches as she disappears and her last employee leaves, making her return into her bakery and close it for the night.
